Negotiable instrument safety paper



Dec. 29, 1936. 0. MOORE NEGOTIABLE INSTRUMENT SAFETY PAPER Filed June 10, 1935 Counmusfimo CIT] ZEN S OFFI C E 0H 10 NATIONAL BANK, Gommnusflmo.

Patented Dec. 29, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 1 Claim.

This invention relates to negotiable instrument safety paper, and the primary object of the invention resides in the provision of a safety paper for checks, promissory notes, drafts,

5 bonds and the like, upon which is provided a novel arrangement of ink-bearing surfaces which make alterations or changes in such instruments, after they have been finally drafted, difficult, if not impossible, to perform without showing that the paperhas been tampered with or altered in some manner from its original form.

For a further understanding of the invention, reference is to be had to the following description and the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a front view of a bank check made in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a similar fragmentary view on an enlarged scale and disclosing the scroll pattern and the indelible ink screen.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, the safety paper for negotiable instruments, as produced in accordance with a preferred form of the present invention, comprises a fiber body of a relatively soft flexible porous character. Any suitable paper having these characteristics may be used. However, I have found that I obtain very good results with paper stock comprising twenty pound basis India Mail Order Bond, having a vellum finish and composed of 100% sulphite fibers and produced with or without added coloring. I may employ, however, a

soda fiber paper, which is also a soft stock of desired porosity.

On the upper surface of a negotiable instrument composed of paper of the above quality, there is printed or otherwise applied a geometrical pattern composed of a plurality of inter-- secting, irregular, relatively spaced curved lines 40 of colored delible inks. The ink or inks forming the scroll lines, as indicated at I in' the drawing, is of a sensitive or fugitive nature and is capable of being removed by the action of chemical or other eradicators but, if removed,

; leave the color of the paper stock below exposed so that the alteration becomes perceptible, it being quite diflicult, after erasure, to exactly match or join the scroll lines which were interrupted by the erasures.

50 In combination with a bank check, or other negotiable instrument having the above described features of construction, I provide additional protection in the form of a screen or grille 2 formed by the use of an indelible copying ink. The screen or grille preferably extends across limited area of the instrument and is disposed to cover the blanks thereof in which are written the name of the payee of a bank check and the figures representing the amount 5 for which the check is drawn. This protective screen or grille is printed on the instrument preferably from an 85 line Ben Day half tone screen. This restricted grille area is usually printed with purple or other distinctly colored 10 copying ink which may be supplemented with small percentages of glycerin and water.

Inasmuch as the grille area is composed of copying ink, it is readily affected by the use of any ink eradicator and presents the greatest 15 possible difiiculties toward rte-construction after alteration. In addition, the points in the half tone screen are impressed in the surface of the soft paper and when written over, take the ink from the pen unevenly. Any attempt at removing or eradicating the copying ink from which the grille area is composed results in causing the copying ink to penetrate through the paper so that the color thereof will be conspicuously shown on the plain untinted back surface of the paper. The grille area 2 thus consists of a plurality of dots, closely placed together and of a different color from the remainder of the printing. The dots comprising the grille are formed from the copying ink and 0 contain a sufiicient amount of glycerin to cause the penetration of the ink into the paper. If an attempt is made to effect an erasure of this grille area, the copying ink is forced through the paper so that it is readily discernible from the back or reverse side thereof.

What is claimed is:

A safety bank check paper composed of a soft and relatively porous fiber body, the upper surface of the check being tinted by having 40 printed thereon a plurality of lines extending over substantially the full area of said upper surface, and a screen or grille composed of a plurality of closely spaceddots of a contrasting colored copying ink applied to the space on said check intended to carry the amount of money for which the check is drawn, said copying ink having the property when the fibers of the paper are disturbed as by rubbing to change the same to penetrate through the body of the paper so that the color of the ink will be readily discernible upon the reverse or under side of the check.

OPHA MOORE. 

